Does Vitamin B12 Cause Acne? The Full Scientific Analysis

Vitamin B12 is easily one of the most popular supplements in the world, uniquely in the form of injections rather than pills. John F Kennedy once claimed that he would have never become president without it, and in 2008 alone, American doctors handed out 1.5 million prescriptions.

The popularity has its roots in the 1950s, when the earliest horrific stories of Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) began to leak to the American public. Almost overnight, this gained vegan and vegetarian movements millions of new followers, but there was an unforeseen problem: plants lack the necessary enzymes to manufacture vitamin B12. Animals also lack these enzymes, but their stomachs contain the bacteria which do manufacture vitamin B12 (although in humans, the bacteria is too minimal to suffice).

Consequently, steak, liver or fish are easily the best vitamin B12 sources. Originally, vegan leaders decided that spirulina, seaweed and fermented soybeans were the way forward, but it turned out that these plant sources merely contained vitamin B12 analogs called cobamides, which block the uptake of real B12 in the body. A 1974 dealt a crippling blow, finding that 92% of vegans, 64% of lactovegetarians, and 20% of semi-vegetarians had below average blood levels.

Since that day, vitamin B12 supplements have been a life-saving vegan staple. As terrifying tales of its widespread deficiency spread, even normal Americans are now jumping aboard.

Why is this relevant on a website devoted to clearing acne? Simply because no other vitamin has been associated with as many horrific acne outbreaks, over so many years.

 

Vitamin B12 causes acne in countless studies!

Vitamin B12 falls under the same banner as iodine, in that many of the horrific acne studies date way back to the 1960s. This was the earliest era of B12 shots, and the early adopters insisted with a passion that high doses worsened their acne.

Since then, their words have been fulfilled, beginning with a study from 1979, which concluded that acne tends to spring up rapidly after vitamin B12 injections. 

A more recent 2014 study gathered two groups of volunteers, consisting of 120 acne patients (98 women, 22 men; mean age, 20 years) who were made to complete 6 months of isotretinoin/accutane therapy, and a second group of 100 acne-free people (79 women, 21 men; mean age, 21 years).

Read Annihilate Your Acne – get the diet that could transform your skin!

The results were very revealing. We’re not too concerned with what accutane did; what’s important is that before taking accutane, the 120 acne patients had “statistically significantly higher” bloodstream vitamin B12 than the clear-skinned volunteers. B12 was the only increased nutrient, as folic acid (AKA vitamin B9) showed no difference between the groups.

 

A unique explanation

Finally, we have this fresh and extremely interesting study which may hammer the final nail into the coffin. 

Scientists supplemented healthy volunteers with vitamin B12 and closely examined their skin microbiota (microorganisms), focusing keenly on p.acnes. The classic acne bacteria didn’t grow, multiply, or strengthen in the face of topical treatments; nothing that simple.

Instead, vitamin B12 increased the amount of metabolic waste produced by p.acnes. In its daily activities, propionibacterium acnes uses the amino acid l-glutamine to manufacture either vitamin B12 or peptides called porphyrins. If p.acnes is already equipped with B12, then the need to manufacture its own supply falls, and l-glutamine will be diverted to the conveyor belt of porphyrin instead.

You’ve probably guessed at the end to this tale; porphyrins are card-carrying acne villains. They’re known experts at irritating the skin; this study from 1998 showed that p.acnes-derived porphyrins are “highly efficient catalytic factors in the squalene oxidation process“. If you’re an encyclopaedia of acne science then you’ll know that oxidising squalene creates the pore-clogging nightmare called squalene peroxide, which is actually a bigger cause of acne than p.acnes bacteria itself.

The clearing of acne which many people enjoy during summer is partially due to natural sunlight’s ability to destroy these porphyrins. Blue light devices work by shattering porphyrins, and p.acnes with them. Notably, this 2015 study discovered that acne-prone skin contained more porphyrins than skin without. It doesn’t get simpler than that. The scientists also fed vitamin B12 to p.acnes directly using a petri dish, and observed a spike in porphyrin production of 39%.

 

Vitamin B12 and acne – nobody is safe!

In the study above, B12 even created a fresh batch of acne in patients who had barely heard of pimples.

The scientists administered vitamin B12 injections to 10 random participants with clear skin, causing one to randomly break out 7 days later. Furthermore, p.acnes had mutated into an aggressive form under the microscope.

It’s well established that the bacteria of acne patients’ skin churns out more porphyrins and inflammatory metabolic waste products. Somehow, B12 has the dangerous power to turn friendly skin bacteria into a more acnetastic variety. Only 1 of 10 clear skinned people developed acne, but those already stalked by pimples became far worse.

The mystery of vitamin B12 and acne is decades old, but toxic metabolites churned out by p.acnes may be the long-hunted missing link.

There are other plausible mechanisms; one is that excessive doses of B12 can convert the heavy metal mercury into methylmercury, a doubly toxic and inflammatory form. High dose B12 injections are even linked to higher accumulation of methylmercury in the brain (study).

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So are we done with vitamin B12, or could these results not translate into the endlessly complicated real world of acne? After all, iodine has been pilloried for acne since the 1960s and we mostly exonerated in this article.

On the surface, it looks grim. After a thorough scouring of the acnesphere, I’ve never seen so many horror stories for one nutrient: 

ONE: I never ONCE had acne before and after doctor put me on 10,000mcg B12 shots 3 times a week, I have patches of pimples on my nose, temples, and chest! Horrible!

TWO: I decided to supplement with vitamin B12 a few months ago but ended up taking way too much. Ever since I’ve had terrible acne and it’s not going away.

THREE: I’ve been taking B12 shots twice a week and have horrible acne on my back, neck, face and chest.

FOUR: I have been taking vitamin B12 supplements since August every other day. The dosage was 5,000 mcg as an oral pill. I developed severe acne all over my cheeks and neck and basically everywhere. I have never looked like this before – it’s horrible!

FIVE: Someone who had started a course of B12 shots, and felt generally healthier on them, said that “the acne came on overnight practically and is all over my chin and neck. It’s also slowly creeping up my cheeks towards my forehead”.

 

Vitamin B12 also has benefits for acne!

Are we dead in the water then? No, because if you’re a keen eyed reader then you’ll have noticed that every nightmare-inducing testimonial used B12 injections. 

The dosage in the worst-looking study was truly enormous – an injection of 1000mcg, which is 5000% of the adult daily allowance of 2.4mcg. The typical B12 shot prescribed by doctors contains 500-1000mcg, to be injected 2 times daily.

The only evidence that dietary intakes of B12 trigger acne is the study showing 30% higher bloodstream levels than average. Furthermore, a study on female acne patients concluded that blood vitamin B12 levels were no different.

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Here’s the shocking truth: vitamin B12 deficiency is not just rampant in vegans. People who shun meat are highly deficient themselves; studies generally suggest that 50% of vegetarians and 80% of vegans need more vitamin B12. However, one study also discovered that 40 percent of all people aged between 26 and 83 have plasma B12 levels in the low to normal range – a range at which the neurological symptoms start kicking in. 9% had an outright deficiency while 16% were at “near deficiency”.

Alcohol is one problem for the average non-vegan, massively impairing B12’s absorption into the gastrointestinal tract. Secondly, many of us have impaired nutrient absorption thanks to grains, sugar, and other nutrient deficiencies. Finally, low levels of the antioxidant glutathione are a silent epidemic, due to its side gig in the metabolization of toxins. Glutathione is vital for protecting vitamin B12 molecules and keeping them 100% functional.

The greatest B12 sources in the world, in order, are…

• Clam.
• Lamb liver – (1501% per 100 grams).
• Lamb kidney. (873%).
• Whitefish eggs.
• Beef liver.
• Moose liver.
• Veal liver.
• Goose liver.
• Duck liver.
• Oysters.
• Red bull.
• Veal kidneys.
• Turkey kidneys.
• Octopus.
• Turkey liver.
• Pork liver.
• Turkey heart.

Organs dominate everything, but the regular meat of the same animals isn’t far behind. A 200 gram lamb steak contains 86% of the RDI, for example. A medium sized egg also contains 10%.

If you’ve cut down on animal foods, perhaps after watching shocking news reports of red meat causing cancer, then you are highly likely to be B12 deficient.

What happens then? Firstly, your oxidative stress levels will surge, unleashing a flood of free radicals. Vitamin B12 is needed to restrain the amino acid homocysteine, used as a marker for heart disease. High homocysteine levels result in endothelial dysfunction, a dangerous narrowing of the arteries, and oxidative damage to cholesterol molecules. But this study also found that homocysteine sent oxidative stress soaring, by inhibiting a compound called tetrabiopterin by 80%.

This study was much more direct, finding that homocysteine increases the production of a compound called PAR-4 (nothing to do with golfers), which itself led to far more free radicals being generated. This study on 149 heart disease patients found that oxidative stress and homocysteine tended to be correlated.

A faulty heart only affects acne extremely indirectly, but oxidative stress is one of the two root causes, alongside chronic inflammation.

We haven’t even started on vitamin B12’s indirect acne powers yet, most notably sleep deprivation. There’s a vast catalogue of sleep studies, but this one stands out. Quote:

• “Two adolescent patients suffering from persistent sleep-wake schedule disorders appear to have responded to treatment with vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin). Neither patient showed any laboratory or clinical evidence of vitamin B12 deficiency or hypothyroidism. The improvement of the sleep-wake rhythm disorders appeared immediately after administration of 3,000 micrograms/day of methylcobalamin.”

Other studies have found that B12 relieves the sleep deprivation caused by jet lag and night shift work, which is logical given its effects on depression and transmitters (see below). This study found that vitamin B12 improved areas of sleep such as “sleep quality”, “concentration” and “feeling refreshed” by influencing melatonin directly. Yet another great study found that patients with delayed deep-phase syndrome benefit from B12; sleep onset came forward from 2am to midnight.

Perhaps the most interesting secret benefit of B12 is shielding against arsenic.

This deadly heavy metal is found in rice and fruit juice, and notoriously triggers hyperkeratosis, an overgrowth of the skin protein keratin which binds dead skin cells together into pore-clogging clumps.

Great news; vitamin B12 supplements can increase the clearance of arsenic through urine (study), and prevent the increase in oxidative stress which the heavy meal triggers (study).

There’s also great evidence that B12 protects against mycotoxins from toxic moulds on peanuts. It’s possible that B12 deals with harmful contaminants more widely in the body.

 

Health benefits of vitamin B12

Forgetting about acne, you should also grab any vitamin B12 in sight for the sake of your health.

Firstly, we just discovered one great boon, cardiovascular health, and a second is improving depression, with roughly 30% of depressed people being B12 deficient according to one study. This makes perfect sense, because vitamin B12 activates a compound called tetrahydrobiopterin, which itself activates the happiness hormone serotonin and the motivation hormone dopamine.

Another study examined the brain function of children on vegan diets, and hence with low levels of vitamin B12. There was apparently a tight link between B12 status and performance on tests measuring fluid intelligence, spatial ability, and short term memory, with formerly vegan children scoring lower than omnivorous kids for each test.

Vitamin B12 is also a potent way to treat anaemia, as it’s central to the creation of the haemoglobin cells which transport iron through the bloodstream. In fact, the road to B12’s discovery began in 1929 when scientist George Whipple induced anaemia in dogs by bleeding them, before feeding them various foods to observe which diets produced the fastest recovery.

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Luckily for the hungry dog, the winner was liver. Soon, Whipple had used his liver remedy to cure pernicious anaemia, a version where iron is plentiful but the iron isn’t being utilised correctly. By 1948, the special compound in liver was identified, isolated, and named – vitamin B12.

If you suffer from fatigue, weakness, dizziness, and shortness of breath, but eat plenty of iron, then vitamin B12 may be the secret solution. Finally, vitamin B12 is famous for strengthening the myelin sheath, a protecting coating like the plastic on a wire, which keeps neurons intact and well functioning.

 

Conclusion

The truth about vitamin B12 is that in giant doses of 1000mcg, it almost certainly does cause acne.

However, I strongly recommend against dodging B12 in your diet, because low levels can trigger oxidative stress, depression and long tortuous nights of sleep deprivation. Your two takeaways are to 1) avoid vitamin B12 shots, and 2) eat plenty of vitamin B12 from foods. If you’re an omnivore then simply include more animal-based foods, particularly liver and other organs. If you’re a vegetarian, then two eggs for breakfast will provide 20% of the RDI.

If you’re a committed vegan then you face the age-old conundrum, since plant sources like spirulina aren’t absorbed properly. However, effective B12 supplements are now available which are both injection free and colossal acne-causing dosage free.

That’s why this Garden of Life Organic B-12 Spray supplement is truly excellent. This spray is completely organic, well-sourced and 100% vegan friendly, in the methylcobalamin form, and contains 140 servings. As a spray form, it bypasses a potentially weak digestive system via direct absorption into the bloodstream. What’s more, 500mcg per day is unnecessary; a single spray every two days will easily suffice. Consequently, the bottle will last for 280 days, just over 9 months.

Recently, European and Japanese doctors have recognised that methylcobalamin is the best absorbed form and are now using it exclusively in prescriptions, but America remains stuck in the dark ages. If you’re scared that the supplement is secretly derived from animals, then never fear; B12 supplements are manufactured by the fermentation of microorganisms such as Streptomyces griseus, Pseudomonas denitrificans and Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii. After all, it’s the bacteria in animals which manufactures B12, not the animals themselves.

Overall, vitamin B12 is another iodine; suspicious in high doses, but perfectly safe for acne at normal dietary intakes. 

NEXT: discover the root causes of acne and banish your pimples forever

 

 

Thanks for reading!